Zeta Vortex: Flower and Blade
by LA Knight
Summary: Sinn, the original evil, before Satan, before the Fall from Grace, has grown tired of this universe, hell included, and has finally decided to destroy it. But the first targets: Razielle and Lillitha, mistresses of hell, and Pinhead, Cenobite Lord.
1. Prologue 1 Present Day

**Mistresses of Hell **

**Prologue I **

.

.

Tiffany sighed heavily and shoveled more vanilla ice cream into her mouth, mumbling, "We really shouldn't be eating this, you guys."

Razielle's eyes flashed acid green and she snarled at Tiff before taking a hefty bite of black cherry ice cream. She swallowed it with a mighty swallow and pinched the bridge of her nose, praying for a lack of brain freeze. When none came, she smiled and shook her long, chestnut bangs out of her face. At least, if nothing else was going right tonight, she could still enjoy the taste of her favorite comfort food.

"Look, Tiff, c'mon! We're miserable, and mad as Hell, literally. Those stupid ignoramus losers made us look really, really dumb. I mean, sure we had fun without them, but still, it's the principle of the thing!" Razielle tacked onto the snarl. "And besides, added to the fact that Prom mostly sucked, we also got attacked by the Elder Ones. Well, I did. And possessed, might I add." The eldest daughter of Satan looked around for a minute, at everyone assembled in the room. Didn't these people have places to be? She knew why Pinhead was here- because she was. She knew why Angelique was there- to piss them off. But as for the other Cenobite, Channard, and the fleshless corpses of Julia and Frank, Raze had to wonder what business they had in the Infernal Throne Room of the Dark Palace, when surely they had jobs to be doing.

"Exactly," Lillitha, AKA Lili, the second eldest daughter, cried. "We got stood up! Nobody stands up the daughters of Satan!"

"Nobody knows you two _are_ the daughters of Satan," Tiffany pointed out reasonably. "Remember? Nobody is supposed to know. Your father said so before he banished you both for the last four years."

"That totally sucks." Lily shoveled ice cream into her mouth.

"I wanna chocolate covered rice ball," Raze murmured, staring forlornly at the nearly empty gallon tub of ice cream. "Or a strawberry Eegees." She sighed then, in dreamy remembrance of the last time she'd managed to enjoy the frozen fruit treat called an Eegees. They were so good! She always ordered the largest size, just so she could enjoy the tangy fruit taste as long as possible. What could she say? They were practically sinful.

"You seriously don't need anymore calories," her sister said. Oh, like the Princess of Blades had any room to talk. They were both voluptuous, with curves that the stick-thin Angelique hated them with a passion for.

"You're chunkier than me, you wanna be peanut butter sandwich!"

Tiffany choked on her ice cream when Raze snapped at her sister. She couldnt believe the heir to the Infernal Throne would say something as immature as 'wanna be peanut butter sandwich.' It just didn't fit with someone who could strike awe and terror in the hearts of creatures like the Cenobites.

"At least I don't have the metabolism of an obese monkey!" Lily snapped back.

Tiffany looked around at the other people in the room and wondered what they thought of the twins. It still made her nervous to be in a room with the girls' minions. She still remembered how Julia and Pinhead and the others had tried to kill her and Kirsty. Now they were under orders to never hurt the girls, to always protect them. Although she knew Pinhead didn't like it, she knew he wouldn't disobey. Neither could Frank and Julia- they loved pain, but not as much pain as Razielle would inflict on them if they ever did anything to Kirsty or Tiffany.

It was Dr. Channard Tiffany was more concerned with. He had at one time murdered the other Cenobites in an attempt to butcher the mortal girls. And then there was Angelique, who hated Razielle and Lillitha with an unholy passion rivaling obsession.

But as for right now, the Cenobites- at least, three of them, including Pinhead and Channard- were watching the girls with cold, unblinking stares. Watching them argue was always amusing- if you were human. She had no idea whether the Cenobites even had a sense of humor. But she also couldn't help notice the frigid, fierce gaze of the leader of the Cenobites when his glacial obsidian eyes alighted on Raze. After what had happened with "the squid fish monster," whoever that was, he hadn't let the princess out of his sight.

Tiffany had to admit the sentiments behind that were oddly human, and very sweet.

"Obese monkey, my ass!" The elder princess snapped back at her sister.

"You have an obese monkey ass?" Tiffany was caught off guard by Raze's retort. The moment she realized what she'd said, she blushed a furious shade of pink, wondering where her mind had been. Well, okay- she knew exactly where her mind had been: dwelling on the emotional politics of Hell. Still, this was the kind of argument you heard between friends in a high school girl's locker room. Not a conversation one was accustomed to hearing in the spartan, jagged darkness of Hell's inner sanctum.

"I _know_ you have an obese monkey ass!" Lily sneered at Razielle, who tried to kick her sister in the knee, crying, "_You_ have an obese monkey ass." The bloody, skinless corpse that was Julia Cotton muttered, "Here we go."

"My monkey's ass is not obese!"

Tiffany blinked at Lily, confused.

"You have a monkey?" She asked. The bloody, skinless corpse that was Frank nodded wisely, murmuring, "An _obese_ monkey." Tiffany wondered how being tortured for eternity scrambled your brains. This pathetic, perverted monstrosity couldn't possibly be the same Frank that had murdered Kirsty's father and step-mother, as well as attempting to kill her, too.

"Is, too!" Raze yelled, clutching her spoon till her knuckles turned white.

"Is not!" Lily cried.

"Is, too!"

"Is not!"

"Is, too!"

"And Pinhead's got balls! You obese monkey ass!" Lily added as an afterthought.

Tiffany glanced at Pinhead, who appeared intent on Raze's answer. If she hadn't known better, she might have thought that, based on the way he swallowed like an anxious, adolescent school boy, he was nervous.

"Hey!" Raze cried, outraged. Her eyes were burning neon green now, like some phosphorescent sulfur. The tendrils of her hair snaked around her head, giving her the chilling appearance of a furious Medusa. The metal spoon in her hand molded to the contours of her hand as she crushed it in her clenched fist. Tiffany wasn't sure if she'd ever seen the Princess so pissed off.

Wondering if Raze's furious protest was referring to the obese monkey ass insult or the Pinhead's lack of balls insult, Tiffany asked, trying desperately to avoid looking at the leader of the Cenobites, "Well, was he castrated?"

Pinhead opened his mouth to speak, but Raze cried, "No! And anyway, I am not an obese monkey's ass!"

Her sister snorted and cried, "How do you know he wasn't castrated? What have you two been _doing_?" Pinhead opened his mouth again, but Lily went on, "And your ass is that of an obese monkey. Get over it."

Julia snickered, and sniped, "And how do you know anything about Razielle's ass?" Somehow, her dignity suffered a greivous blow when the Princess whose ass was in question hurled a rock at the corpse's head.

"I could check that for ya." Frank leered.

"Oh, bite me, you Trill-spotted crack whore! I'm busy!" Raze snarled. Her teeth were beginning to show, jagged and sharp behind her thinned, suddenly bloodless lips. She put a hand behind her, as if about to push herself upright.

"Hey!" Lily cried at the same time Frank and Julia snapped, "Trekkie!"

"I am not a Trekkie! And I wasn't talking to you, dorkus!" Raze muttered at her sister before wolfing down some more ice cream.

"Oh."

"And my ass is not! And I haven't done anything with the Prince except borrow some pins for my voodoo dolls. And I haven't done that since I was thirteen!"

"So, you mean Pinhead _doesn't_ like your ass?"

That got everybody's attention. Tiffany cried, "What?" Julia looked about ready to puke, and muttered, "That's disgusting."

"I prefer inane," Pinhead said in his cavernous voice, totally unruffled.

"More like in_**s**_ane," Tiffany muttered.

"Answer the flipping question! Does he like your ass or not?" Lily grinned as her sister turned a brilliant shade of pink, which stood out against her black velvet dress. Raze coughed and snapped, "What? H-how the Hell am I supposed to even _know_ that? Because I don't, you know, and anyway, that's more Frank's department, the perv, and... and... and... and what the Hell has that got to do with anything, anyway?"

"Pinhead likes obese monkey asses."

"What?" Tiffany cried, looking at the chalk white demon. He blinked once, and that was the only indication that he was surprised by what Lillitha had said. Tiffany couldn't believe the turn the conversation had taken. How did stuff like this happen?

"No, he doesn't," Julia snapped, glaring at the three girls. Both nineteen-year-olds turned to regard her with some measure of surprise, while seventeen-year-old Tiffany was still staring at Pinhead. Now he was looking at Julia, looking almost angry. Was he glaring at the... woman-thing? It was difficult to tell, since his eyes held all the flat darkness of the abysses of Hell's deepest pits. But it looked as if, yes, there was a glimmer of anger in the black diamond eyes.

"Believe me," Julia was saying, "he has no interest in anyone's asses."

"Because you tried, of course," Raze said sweetly, smiling. Her voice dripped sweetly poisoned venom and her eyes were glacial emeralds. Tiffany caught a gleam in Raze's eye, and turned so both Julia and Pinhead were in her field of vision. She murmured softly to Julia, "But you're so _old._" Julia whirled to look at Tiffany, who blinked her innocent, big eyes.

It looked to her like Pinhead was smiling, just a little.

"I tell you, the Dark Pontiff of Hell is not interested in an eighteen-year-old demon princess's ass! Even if she is the daughter of the Devil!"

"Is, too, Julia!" Lily yelled.

"Is not!"

"Is, too!"

"Is not!"

"Is, too!"

"How the mighty have fallen," Pinhead whispered in Razielle's mind. She flashed him a smile full of razor sharp teeth, but couldn't help laughing in agreement. Julia acted so high and mighty, and yet here she was, falling into the mindset of a small, spoiled child. Amusing.

"Is not, goddamn it!"

"Is fucking too!"

"Hey!" Tiffany threw up her hands in the universal "don't kill me" gesture. "Why don't we just flippin' _ask_ him, huh?"

Pinhead opened his mouth to answer, when Raze lifted her long, white hand in a silencing motion. Her blood red nails glinted in the candlelight. Her hair had stopped snaking about, and her eyes no longer glowed. In fact, her eyes were twin pieces of glittering, dark jade, full of hidden emotion as she said, "Dude, don't _even_ answer that. I don't even _wanna_ know. And besides, darling, that's a hang yourself question." She patted Pinhead's knee in a kindly way and went back to silently lamenting the fact that she had no chocolate covered rice balls.

"Because you know the answer is no, huh, Snow White?" Raze growled low in her throat and jerked her head all the way around to stare behind her at Julia. The corpse-woman took a step back as Raze and Lily both snarled, "Shut the hell up, bitch!" Bones cracking, Raze rotated her head another 180 degrees and then popped her neck to relieve some of the tension.

Tiff looked a bit green. She hated it when Raze did the Exorcist thing.

"And, anyway, so, what the heck were we talking about? Oh, yeah... hey, wait! Pinhead thinks I have an obese monkey ass? Dude!" She turned to look at the creature the Aztecs called the Flayed One. "You actually think that?" Raze looked pale, stricken. If someone who wasn't supposed to think about stuff like that actually thought stuff like that, then that meant it was true. And she didn't want an obese monkey ass! She was supposed to be the epitome of the temptations of the flesh! She didn't have time to hit the gym because Earth life had added a bunch of pounds to her butt.

"I-" The Cenobite got out one word before Lily interrupted, "No, no, I mean he's attracted to the asses of obese monkeys." Pinhead opened his mouth to interject, but Lily continued, "And if you don't have one, he may not like you as much as you do."

Tiffany blinked at both demon twins, then looked at the nail-studded demon. "You mean, he won't like her as much as she likes herself? Or he won't like her as much as she likes him? And is that true?" She added, looking at Pinhead.

"I-"

"Duh!" Lily cut him off. "Of course it is."

"Dude! He does not like obese monkey asses!" Raze glared at her sister and shoved a spoon overflowing with slightly melted black cherry ice cream into her mouth. If she couldn't have chocolate rice, she would settle for her favorite flavor of her favorite comfort food.

"Well, he likes yours!"

"Well, I like yours!"

Utter silence, then everyone turned to look at Pinhead, who still looked unruffled. He turned his unblinking, obsidian stare on Raze, who swallowed. She wasn't quite sure what he was going to say. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to know.

He said, "The Crown Princess of Hell is the epitome of the temptations of the flesh. She is beautiful and dark, a mistress of temptation and suffering and pain. Her eyes can sear you to the bare bone, like the hottest, blackest hell fire. Her touch can wither a man's flesh until he is nothing but dust and bones. The sight of her can drive a mortal to distraction and madness, even suicide. She can call forth devils with a word, scald angels with a vicious glance. She is the Heir, and the ruler in all but name of two of the wildest provinces of Hell. Even Waphax, the greatest of demons, bows before her. What is there not to like?"

"Whoa," Tiffany murmured.

"Awwww!" Raze cried.

"Told you," Lily said.

"Bastard!" Julia clenched her fists while Frank muttered, "Gross."

Razielle, realizing other people had actually been paying attention, blinked her huge green eyes and nibbled on her full, bottom lip. Her eyetooth cut into the flesh of her lip, drawing a thin ribbon of bright red blood that dripped into her gallon-sized tub of ice cream.

"Are you going to eat that?" Angelique asked, her voice waspish. She was watching the blood trickle onto the Princess's comfort food, her face twisted with dislike. Raze glanced at her cousin and then turned to stare at Pinhead.

"Dude." She said that a lot. "Is that what you think about all day? Aren't you, like, supposed to kill and maim people and stuff? And drive them nuts and whatever?"

"I-"

"No, of course that's not what he thinks about," Lily said. "Not _all_ day." Frank snorted in disbelief and muttered, "Yeah, right." Lily hissed at him, showing her forked tongue, and then continued, "He just appreciates your hotness."

"He ain't the only one," Frank said. Tiffany swallowed her vanilla ice cream and snapped, "Pervert! Shut up!"

"Like I said. Anyway-"

"Well, actually-" Pinhead began, but Lily yelped, "Shut up, no one's talking to you! Only about you! Damn!" Tiffany giggled at the younger princess's outrage and said, "Yeah, and at you!" Lily glanced at her human friend and laughed, crying, "In your general direction. Got it?"

"I-"

"Shut up, goddamn it!"

"Quit with the swearing, dang!" Raze nibbled on a spoonful of black cherry but had to put it down. She couldn't eat it, she had to know the truth first. "Anyway, so, I don't need an obese monkey ass?"

"No-" The leader of the Cenobites began, but Lily cried, "Shut up! And no, you don't, Raze. Why would you?"

"Oh. Good." Raze relaxed and began to eat her ice cream again.

"Of co-" Pinhead started to say, when Lily gave a strangled scream and cried, "Shut! The fuck! Up! God! I'm still talking! God!"

"No, darling, Xipe Totec."

"Ha, ha, shut up, Raze. Anyway, besides, you've already got one."

It took Raze a second to process that, but then she remembered the part about not needing the obese monkey ass, and it hit her. She choked on the hefty bite of ice cream in her mouth.

"What?" Tiffany asked.

"Hey!" Raze cried, while Frank muttered something about feeling the burn. "I do not have an obese monkey ass, goddamn it!"

Tiffany sighed when her spoon hit the bottom of the container. Ooh, wait, she'd dug a tunnel. Cool! Well, anyway, the twins weren't going to stop fighting unless their father showed up. Tiffany wasn't looking forward to that at all.

"This is just one vicious cycle, isn't it?" She asked, and both Lily and Raze turned to look at her. About to speak, they fell silent and blinked once, then shivered in unison. Knowing what the look on their faces meant, Tiffany murmured, "Oh, boy." Turning to watch the room's door-less doorway, the three teenage girls jumped in surprise when a tall crimson skinned creature with long, ebony bullhorns and cloven hooves stepped through.

"I thought I heard you two arguing," the devil-thing said. The twins grinned up at their younger brother, and a suddenly blushing Tiffany ducked her head and mumbled shyly, "Hi, Darkness."

"Tiffany," he said warmly, then, "Father's coming, thought I'd warn you two."

"Why, so they'd owe you a favor, cousin?" Angelique narrowed her brown eyes.

Darkness smirked and said jovially, "But, darling cousin, just because your family is made up of back-stabbing Hell scum doesn't mean ours is. We may fight openly more than your family, but we still love each other, and we're not filthy, sneaking rats. That's more than I can say for the children of Juggernaut."

"How dare you-"

"Shut up, Angie!"

Tiffany's jaw dropped at Raze's moniker for her demon cousin. The other demon clenched her fists and began to say something, but Tiffany never found out what it was. Angelique fell quiet when a thunderous voice cried, "What is going on?" The twins swallowed hard, and glance at each other, chorusing, "Shit! Nothing. Daddy," they added as an afterthought. Perhaps it would make them more believable.

No such luck.

"Indeed?" Satan arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. Both girls paled and swallowed. While they would often threaten each other by claiming they were going to tell their Father things that they didn't want him to know, they would never actually do such a heinous thing.

"Pinhead likes Razielle's ass, Uncle Lucifer."

That was a heinous thing Angelique just did.

"Bitch!" The twins hissed at Angelique, before Raze yelped, "He does not!"

Now, many adults- and many demons- think that they are very mature, but when it comes to most demons, this is not the case. They enjoy causing mischief- something that is rather immature- but they never cause any real damage. Now, when confronted with an opportunity to make themselves look stupid and immature, demons like Angelique will always do so.

"Does, too!"

"Does not!"

"Does, too!"

"Does not!" Lily and Raze cried.

"Does, too!"

"Does not!"

"Does, too! Does, too! Does, too!" Angelique yelled, slamming her fists against her lean thighs.

"Does not," said Tiffany.

"Does not," said Lillitha.

"Does not!" Razielle exclaimed triumphantly.

"Do you two ever not fight with people?" Julia cried in exasperation.

"Go to Hell, bitch!" The twins stuck out their tongues at her, forked and snakelike, before sucking them back in as their dislikable cousin crowed, "Does, too, indeed! He even said so!"

"Oh, really?"

Both twins gulped and started to blink rapidly as Satan turned his dark, onyx gaze onto the Prince of Pain. They knew Pinhead wouldn't lie to their Father. The leader of the Cenobites was too loyal to the Son of Perdition for that. Besides, in Hell, there were laws against that kind of thing. You could be executed for lying to the Prince of Darkness. Hell, you could be executed for practically anything if the Prince of Darkness said so.

"Yes. I did."

Ah. Simple, painful truth.

Satan arched an eyebrow, something that could mean either intense amusement or agonizing dismemberment, depending on the topic under discussion, and Raze cried, "God damn it!" She clenched her fists, vowing to get Angelique back for this and desperately trying to figure out how she was going to keep her father from slaughtering the Prince of Pain.

"It's a little bit late for that, don't you think?" Julia asked.

"Go to Hell!"

"That, too," Julia said. She opened her mouth to say something scathing and witty, but she went pale at the sound of Lucifer's devastating roar, as the Devil cried, "Out! Everyone out! Get _out_! Now! _Except you, Prince!_"

Pinhead froze in the act of rising from his Dark Throne, a sculpture of black ice twisted into wicked spikes and glittering spires a ways away from the Infernal Throne. Slowly he reseated himself, as if moving around the palpable rage of a rabid animal looking for any excuse to attack him. He looked completely unruffled, despite the possibility of eternal suffering or brutal, hellish death.

Raze wondered how he did it.

Lily wondered if they were going to get grounded. Then she took a moment to wonder if she were a shallow creature in need of a good beating to wake her up to other people's problems. Then she decided she didn't really care.

Pinhead wondered why the Princess Razielle was turning that tender shade of a baby rosebud in the early beginnings of the spring, and also whether or not he was starting to become sentimental these last few decades.

And Tiffany wondered whether she was gonna die if she didn't go home soon. Casting an anxious look at Darkness, he caught her blue-green-grey gaze with his feral amber one, and nodded slowly. He would make sure she got out of this all right.

"Tiffany, I'll escort you home," Darkness said, and offered his huge, crimson-skinned, black-taloned hand. The young mortal blinked her huge, jewel toned eyes, swallowing hard, but she placed her small, pale hand in his, and it enveloped hers until you could barely see it, and then he guided her out of the room, casting only one anxious look back at her two best friends before disappearing from their view.

Neither of the twins were very worried. Their younger brother, Darkness, could handle anyone that might disobey their orders, and he actually had a thing for Tiffany- as creepy as that was.

Both girls suddenly wondered if one of their other brothers might attack, but no. Adrian and Cassius were still in Limbo, Nicky was on Earth, Azrael was busy collecting the Souls of the Damned, and Minos was still grounded- and locked in his room- for trying to take over the world. Baltazar was busy leading life as a human and being married to a witch, Cedric was busy taking care of Ilean, their younger sister, and Damian just wouldn't do something like that. Beelzebub was busy possessing the children of a town, Judas was still in Purgatory, Dante was writing a book and had no interest in being a demon, Legion was still in service to Mephistopheles- who wouldn't go against their wishes, no matter what the compensation- and Alexander and Zacharias were still too little.

"Get out, both of you girls." Satan stared at the twins, his oldest children, and felt his jaw drop when they both shook their heads.

"No way in Hell," Lillitha said.

"Or anywhere else, for that matter," said his eldest, Razielle, the thorough one. She shoved her long, thick brown hair out of her face and did her best to meet her Father's eyes. The Son of the Star of the Morning was a little intimidating. But she found it a little easier when she saw he was in his form of Harvey Kaitel as Mr. White from _Reservoir Dogs._ Since he wasn't wearing the shades, she found she could meet his eyes, despite the dangerous glitter she saw there.

"You can't kill him, Daddy," Lily went on. "Raze is in love with him." The eyebrow popped up again, and went even higher when Raze squeaked like a terrified mouse, "I am not!"

"Oh. Okay." Lucifer smiled. "I'll just kill him, then." He noticed the way Pinhead's eyes shifted from his face to his daughter, waiting to see what she would do. In this instance, she cried, "No!" And then she raced to stand in front of the white skinned demon, arms spread wide, lips quivering with nervousness, but knees refusing to buckle despite the murderous look he knew had filled his countenance.

"Hi," she said, looking over her shoulder at Pinhead, and waved liked a little kid. He waved once, as if unsure what he was supposed to be doing.

"Princess," he said in acknowledgement.

"Daddy, you can't kill him! You don't have a reason! He's always been loyal, and he's brought you souls, and... and... and you just can't kill him, that's all."

"You've been watching too many Shirley Temple movies, kid," Lucifer murmured, trying not to laugh. Raze smiled and cried, "Oh, my duck can do a wonderful trick! My duck can lay an egg!"

"And just _what_ is so wonderful about that?"

"Well, can you lay an egg?"

"No, but I know damn well Xipe Totec can't lay an egg, either." Raze blinked, unsure of what to do. She muttered, "Damn you, Angelique. I'll so get you for this."

"So, you love him?" Satan asked his eldest child.

"Um..." she mumbled, chewing on her lip so that it began bleeding again. Satan recognized the nervous habit and realized he'd unintentionally backed his usually fearless and untrappable child into a corner. "Um... but, love is such a _strong_ word. Like friend. I'd say more that I _like_ him... kinda. I guess."

"Hmm. And you," Lucifer said, turning towards the Cenobite. "So, what are your intentions? Do you intent to marry my daughter?"

"No."

"Yes!" Raze exclaimed. "Thank God. Er, kinda."

"Sorta," Lily said.

"Yeah," Raze said.

"Right," Lily said.

"Exactly," Raze & Lily said, then looked at each other and offered each other a hopeful smile. The Devil shook his head and passed a hand over his face before looking at Pinhead.

"Do they frighten you?"

"No."

"They scare a Hell out of me."

"But... you are their Father."

"And they are their Mother."

"Squared," the girls chorused, grinning. Satan smiled and murmured, "Rectangular."

"Oh! Daddy!" Raze threw herself down on the ground, spread-eagled. "Don't be such a freaking parallelogram." Lily kicked her in the thigh, but she didn't feel it. Her mind was still reeling from the square metaphors and the brush with death Pinhead and just experienced. Luckily, they'd managed to make their father laugh. Always a good sign.

"Oh, my God!" Lucifer shook his head at them both.

"Nope, just your kids," Raze said, pillowing her head on her arms. "Aren't we sexy?" Pinhead nodded almost imperceptibly and whispered, "Yes, you are." Lucifer's eyebrow popped up, and he hissed, "Excuse me?"

"I said, 'I doubt that they are.' "

"Oh," Raze murmured dejectedly.

Lily glared and muttered, "Creep." Pulling her sister up off the floor, she dragged the older girl out of the room. Razielle kept looking over her shoulder, watching her Father and his minion as she disappeared.

"Damn," Pinhead muttered.

"Nice going, Prince," Lucifer said. He motioned for the demon to sit down, and then followed suit, plopping down onto the blood red velvet cushion set in the seat of the jagged, obsidian Infernal Throne. "That was just bloody brilliant. You're to be absolutely congratulated."

"Forgive me, my Lord."

"Don't let it happen again. Don't worry about maintaining the facade of being a cold, heartless demon around them. It's a waste of time and effort, because they'll just break through anyway. Try to act... human."

"Why?"

"Because, foolishly, it's what the two of them- and quite a few of my other Hell spawn- want. They want human friends. They're stuck with demons."

"I see."

"You like my daughter, don't you? You got a thing for Razielle."

"Nonsense, my Lord. I am empty. Exquisitely empty."

"Sure ya are. You know, if she's anything like her mother, and I know she is, then you really wanna be careful. I know you're into pain, but Raze is likely to lop off something important if you piss her off too bad."

"My Lord?"

"What I mean is, good luck trying to keep your treasured body parts if you get on her bad side."

"Well... if the Princess ever wants children, she'll keep her dismemberment to herself."

Almost like magic, up popped Satan's eyebrow. "I beg your pardon, Prince?"

"I... I... the Gates of Hell are open! Time to wreak suffering! Farewell!"

Before Lucifer could say anything, his lieutenant vanished in a flash of golden light. The Prince of Darkness shook his head and muttered, "Great. I knew that was gonna happen. It's a fact of afterlife: demons are attracted to women with angelic blood in their veins. Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I've got two sons to release, an Apocalypse to plan, and a pineapple to shove up Hitler's ass."

_**Please feel free to leave a comment!**_

_**Anything at all. I am really interested in what my readers think about my writing.**_

_**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**_


	2. Prologue 2 Razielle

**Prologue II**

**4 Years Earlier**

**Razielle**

"We!" A brunette 14-year-old shrieked like a 5-year-old child.

"Don't!" Her fraternal twin sister, a girl with thick, jet-black hair roared.

"Want," the brunette yelled.

"To!" Her sister was bright red in the face.

"_GO!_" They both screamed this last word at the top of their lungs.

It was amazing, Satan marveled, that two girls just on the cusp of womanhood could command so much attention simply by sitting on two towering thrones of scarlet-veined black marble and shrieking at the top of their lungs. His two oldest daughters were slight, petite girls, although they were so thin because they'd been starving themselves so they wouldn't have to go to a human high school.

What spawn of the most unclean fallen angel would wish to leave the warm embrace of Hell, after all?

"Razielle! Lillitha! Both of you calm down, right this moment, before I slip into something more brimstonish and horny!" That quieted both girls, and they stared at him for a second, in his form of Harvey Kaitel He even wore the tuxedo and shades the actor wore in _Reservoir Dogs_. But all they were paying attention to was the "horny" statement. They both started to giggle, and suddenly they were convulsing with laughter as they tumbled from their thrones to the coal-black Persian rugs on the floor.

"You're going to high school and that is final!" Razielle immediately stopped laughing and pushed herself upright, glaring at the Devil. She hissed, "I would rather be in Heaven for eternity than go to Earth for even a moment!"

"Maybe I can arrange that with Him, then, huh? See what your big mouth gets you!" Her brilliant hazel eyes blinked in surprise, suddenly shimmering with tears. She leapt to her feet and ran from the Throne Room, despite the thunderous voice of her father calling her back.

The Princess was suffering. The Princess was in pain. He, the Lord of the Cenobites, could feel her anguish in the dead marrow of his skull, in the grid of scar tissue across his face and the gaping wounds in his chest and belly, in the bleeding splits in his fingertips where thin fishhooks protruded from his flesh. Every wound he bore throbbed in an uncomfortable rhythm to the pounding of young Razielle's breaking heart.

The Princess was in pain.

He loved pain, reveled in it. He was the face and voice of pain. Hell, he _was_ pain. But this pain was not from the source that he wanted. He did not want pain from the Princess. She did not like pain, and he was not happy when she was not happy. She was his Princess, his dark Lady, and he would bring down the very wrath of Hell itself to make her happy once more.

He found her bedroom door, and without knocking, pushed it open. She didn't shriek in outrage and surprise as she turned slowly to face him. He was surprised. Most fourteen-year-old girls would squeal with embarrassment to be found looking at their selves, naked, in the mirror.

The Prince of Pain drank in the sight of her, curious. He had seen naked women before, of course, but this was the Princess. The Princess was different.

Her curtain of mahogany curls fell down her back to her firm, round buttocks. Her skin was so pale, but not deathly so, like his. Her feet were large for a girl her age, but slender and elegant, the feet of a dancer. Her ankles were thin, the bones seemingly weak. Her legs were long and lean. The tight, dark triangle of soft, silken curls at the apex of her thighs was... intriguing to him. Her hips were wide and shapely, her hip bones sharp, and her waist slender. Her torso was thin enough that he could span the width of it with one hand. Her arms were like her legs, long and lean, and her shoulders were narrow. She had a long, lovely swan neck. Her head was nicely shaped, almost perfectly symmetrical. Her face was remarkably beautiful.

"Why do you stare so, Prince?"

"Do I stare, my lady?" He was mesmerized by the lift of her full, luscious breasts as she breathed and spoke. Her birthmark, a design resembling thorny roses whose petals dripped with blood, winked at him as she folded her arms across her chest.

"If you were human, you'd be drooling," she said dryly, then became very solemn for a moment, though her eyes were cruel and angry, and very, very cold. "Do you want to mate with this body, Prince? Is that why you're staring?"

"Princess-" he began, but then she was on him, and he was against the door, staring down at her as she slid her hands up to his shoulders, as she rubbed the length of her naked body against him like a sex kitten. He realized he'd made a mistake: Razielle may look fourteen, but she was much, much older.

Against his will, he felt the thick, sluggish blood in his body surge into his aching sex, and the cold, viscous blood began to grow hot as hell fire.

"Do you want to fuck this body, Prince? Do you like my cunt? Is that why you're staring?" She grabbed his hands and filled them with her budding breasts, her hazel eyes locked with his. "Earth boys do. They like it."

He froze, his black gaze locked with hers.

"Do they?" His voice was soft, cavernous, and filled with damnation.

"Oh, yes. But I don't like them."

"They are merely human animals. They have no right to touch you, Princess."

"But they don't care." She threw herself away from him and scurried to hide herself behind the black silk curtains of her gargantuan, four-poster canopied bed. He followed, and crawled onto the bed through the curtains. She was lying on top of the black comforter, still gloriously naked, crying.

"No tears, my lady, please."

"Is it a waste of good suffering, Prince?"

"No, my Princess. I do not wish for you to suffer." She rolled over and stared at him for a moment, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"I don't want to go to Earth. I don't want to leave Hell. I want to stay here with you, Prince, with you and the legions and everyone. I don't want to live with humans right now. They're scary."

He slid one hand under her back and lifted her up and against him, cradling her like the child she so resembled. She locked her fierce gaze with his, brilliant hazel and piercing obsidian. Her face had a hard, blazing look in it, and she was unusually quiet until she shattered the silence with her eternally damned confession.

"I love you, Prince."

He didn't speak, merely closed his eyes slowly, as if savoring her words. She grew impatient and murmured, "Well? Don't you love me, as well?"

"By my nature, my Lady, I cannot love. But I am a devoted servant, to your family and, most especially, to you. You are _my_ Princess, Razielle. If ever you have need of me, call my true name, my human name, and I will come to you."

"Your human name... Prince." To know a demon's human name- if it had ever been human- was to have complete control over it. And the Prince of Pain would speak it to her... Even as a Princess, this was a high honor. He whispered his true name into her ear, and she giggled.

"It is cruel of you to laugh, Princess," he murmured, feigning indignation. She merely smiled, and he noticed her rather charming dimples.

"I think... I think I should like to kiss you, Prince." He blinked, surprised. A kiss in Hell was rarer than a polar bear in Antarctica (they really only live in the Arctic). Not to mention his pins would get in her way. Ah, but she already had a solution to that problem.

She lifted a hand, her expression timid but curious, and when he nodded permission, she yanked a nail out of his head. It was thin and pointed, the tip dripping his almost-black blood onto the satin of her comforter. She bent her head and licked the tip of it, then put it in her mouth to suck the taste of it.

"I love the taste of bloody metal," Raze murmured. She then yanked out several more nails before he grasped her wrists and made her hold still. His maleness, already aroused to the point of sheer torment, couldn't take the agonizing ecstasy of it as the cold iron slid from the soft gray matter of his brain. Raze could feel his hard, thick length against her butt.

"I wasn't finished."

"You're doing this out of anger, not desire."

"I have a right to be angry, Prince."

"Princess, this is for the best."

"I do not wish to go, Prince. I will not go!" She flung herself away from him, from his embrace, and up from the bed, the fire sputtering out and the ashes turning to gray and black ice as she focused her blazing green eyes upon it. Her body turned the color of marble in the sudden coldness of the room.

"I won't do it, demon." She rarely called any of the Cenobites "demon" unless her fury was choking her strange humanity and bizarre affection for them. "I refuse to be banished from my own home, my own realm. I won't go. I refuse to go. I'd rather die than go!" With that, she snatched up one of her blades from her black wood table and prepared to pierce her own heart. Before she could even begin to bring her arm down, a cold hand grabbed her wrist and another pulled her against the cold, aroused body of the Prince.

"You will not do this thing, my lady! You can not! You can't leave m-" He stopped and blinked, focused his onyx eyes on her. He seemed to be struggling with himself, with what he wished to say. After a few moments, where his midnight eyes glittered as if with fever, he felt her relax just a little and whispered, "My Lady, you cannot do this thing."

He felt her trembling begin and was ready when she dropped the blade to the carpet and flung herself against him, sobbing so hard she nearly choked.

"Oh, Prince! Oh, Prince, I can't leave you, I can't leave my brothers and sisters, I'll have no one! I'm afraid. I know how stupid that sounds, but it's true. It's true!" As she cried, her icy tears dropping onto the black leather of his robes, he scooped her up and carried her back to her bed, where he set her down. He lied down next to her, stroking the bend of a cold, steel fishhook against her smooth, warm, tear stained cheek.

It comforted her, and the fact that such a cold, inhuman caress would bring her such comfort made him wish that he were capable of weeping.

"If you do not go, your father will send you to Him, the Chaotic One." She caught at his hand, holding the stroking hook still, and touched her own fingertips to his flesh. His mouth was free for her to taste if she so wished, and her look said she knew it.

"Yes," she said, stroking his bloodless lips with one finger.

"I would rather you were only gone a few years, than forever." She blinked and stared up at him, then slid her arms around his neck, whispering, "You really don't want me to go, do you?" He shook his head.

"Sorrow is sweeter than a rare red wine, but not if the sorrow is brought on by your absence from these dark halls."

"Oh, Prince... well. Lily and I have to leave tomorrow, and I am exhausted. Will you lie with me until tomorrow? Just to sleep."

"If I lie with you, it will not be to sleep, my lady."

"Oh? You would enjoy 'not sleeping' with me, then?"

"How am I to answer? Your body is so young, just on the cusp of maturity. But you are enough of a woman that I would enjoy such pleasure."

"I'm a garden, Prince, in need of seeding."

"You are exhausted."

"I'm ready to be fucked, Prince. Can't you feel it? And you're ready to fuck, aren't you? Don't you want me?"

"I want you to sleep if you need it."

"Pound me into exhaustion, sweet Prince."

He smiled and shook his head. The Lady was not one to be deterred. A solid no would be his only recourse, or perhaps simple avoidance. Then again, did he truly want to turn down such a rare and tempting offer?

"I will need help to strip off my robe. The wires-" A wave of Raze's blankly glowing hand cut him off as his robes disappeared, leaving him naked, his gaping wounds oozing blood, his penis huge, hard, and white, like marble. He was like a beautiful marble statue, as divinely handsome as the gods.

"Come to my bed, Prince." At her words, spoken with the knowledge of her many aeons, he felt his spear grow sharp, grow hungry for a woman's quivering, lust-slick flesh. His lady's word was the only thing that held his appetites at bay.

"Do we go to sleep, Lady?"

"Only if you wish it."

_If you wish it..._

She would surely be his undoing one of these days.

He came into her bed, his desire warring with his judgement. His judgement would've won out if she hadn't rose up onto her knees and embraced him, her head against his chest, listening to the slow throbbing of his demonic heart. Her hands, splayed wide across his back, slid up and down the tense muscles of his shoulders, his back, the curve of his buttocks. He sucked in a sweetly agonized breath and put his arms around her, holding her close.

"Oh, Prince, I wasn't lying when I said I loved you."

"I know, Princess."

"I wish you could feel love."

"If I could, I am certain I would most certainly feel it for you, my Lady." She lifted her head to look him in the eyes, saw the truth. She had known him since his creation, almost a century ago. He had never spoken to her such words as these. If he could have loved her, he would have. That was almost as good as his love, and almost as bad as his hate. It was a bittersweet thing to hear those words.

"My sweet, dark, fallen angel of a prince," she whispered. "Make me your Princess. Please, just for tonight, before I lose you, my true Prince, for so long. Make me believe I'm yours."

"You're not mine, Lady. You're too far above me. But I am yours, if you'll have me. And now, Princess, I will give you a final night to remember."

They descended together into a haze of dreams and fantasies, silk and pale flesh, kisses and caresses, orgasmic pain and excruciating pleasure. The whirlwind of darkness and hell and heaven didn't die down until the dawn crept into the sky as sleep crept into the heart, mind, body, and soul of the Crown Princess.

Xipe Totec gazed down at the sleeping form of the Princess, and caressed her cheek. She didn't wake, but turned her face into his hand in her sleep. Soon she would be gone, and he would be depressingly alone once more. For once, the thought of being alone made his heart cease its beating. Sometimes, that happened when he thought of the Princess and her leaving of him.

"I leave this with you, my Lady, as my farewell. Until I find my way to you once more, I am still your devoted slave. Heed my message, and your stay on Earth will not be such a living Hell."

He lifted one of his missing pins- the others were no longer missing, but safely put back in his skull- and watched it grow to the length of a small knife. He pinned the thing with his elongated pin to the Princess's pillow and tucked the message under the thing's arm. He stroked her cheek once more, pushed back her hair from her face. He lifted her hand in his, kissed her fingertips. He then gently tucked her hand against the warmth of her sleep be-spelled body, grabbed the one thing from her bed that he desperately wanted, and left.

When he found himself back in his chambers, he clutched the scarlet, silk pillow he'd snagged from her bed and inhaled the sweet scent of the Princess. He would keep this for a long time, to remind him of her scent. He would need it, especially if she never called for him. And if she were hurt by his manner of departure, she would not call for him in her times of need.

He didn't want to be there when she left Hell, left him, her loyal servant, but if she needed him, he would be there to bid her farewell.

_**Please feel free to leave a comment!**_

_**Anything at all. I am really interested in what my readers think about my writing.**_

_**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**_


	3. Prologue 3 Lillitha

**Prologue III**

**4 Years Earlier**

**Lillitha**

"Princess," the dark haired demon murmured. "My beautiful princess." He touched Lily's soft cheek, caressed her ivory face with his sword-callused palm.

"Lord-"

"No," he hissed softly, thunderously, his voice like black lighting. "I am not a lord this night, Lillitha. I am not even a demon. I am a mere man. I am only Leviathan."

"You will never be only Leviathan, my lord. You will always be the Lord of the Labyrinth."

"Not," he snarled murderously, "tonight." He grabbed a fistful of her hair and pressed her fourteen-year-old body against his. Her breasts crushed up against his bare white chest, and her hands flew up to his shoulders as she struggled to regain her balance.

"Don't do it," she whispered, her eyes wide as she stared up at him. "Don't try to suck me in."

"Are you sure that is what you truly desire?" He asked, his breath blowing mist against her lips as the fire went out, dousing the room with frigid air and velvet darkness.

"No," she whispered.

"Didn't think so." He crushed her to him and kissed her.

When she managed to pulled her mind out of the kiss's spell, the princess and the demon lord were on their knees in the center of an extremely large, canopied bed, every inch of their hot, aching flesh touching as their tongues danced and their lips caressed.

Leviathan couldn't get close enough to Lillitha. He finally broke the wet, passionate kiss to gently stroke the soft, moon pale cheek of the wicked princess before him. The moonlight washed through the window, bathing her body in its sweet, silver glow. Her eyes, bright in the pale shine of the moon, held such adoration and tenderness, it took his very breath away.

Leviathan met her gaze for a moment before he was forced to look away, and he realized he suddenly couldn't meet her eyes, though he wasn't sure why. He'd never had attacks of guilt before. Guilt led to chaos.

He knew he shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't be in the bed of the second heir to the Throne of Abarat. He knew he should be focusing on the plan to enslave mankind, but he couldn't stop himself from allowing her to seduce him. But was it all just one-sided seduction? Or was he also to blame for the tempest rising between them?

He nuzzled her cheek and inhaled the smell of death and sweet roses. Her scent washed over him and almost drove him mad with longing.

Lillitha pulled back, lifted one slender, ivory hand and traced her fingertips over Leviathan's soft, little boy lips. His tongue flickered out to taste the tips of her tapered fingers as they passed over his mouth. He surged his hands into her hair, deliberately tangling them in the cascade of her ebony curls as he tilted her head back for easier access to her long, slender white throat. Her carotid artery pulsed in her throat with every beat of her heart. He wanted to taste the hot, salty-sweet blood her heart pumped through her veins.

He found the pulsing vein, felt the hot, sweet blood rushing under her skin. He licked his lips, but clamped down on his control and did not bite. Oh, but he wanted to, desperately, and she wanted him to, he knew it.

The tip of his tongue gently touched her throat, a small taste of her salty skin. The slick, warm, wetness of his tongue against her skin made her tremble. The whisper of his lips over her skin, soft as a butterfly's wing, had her looking helplessly into his eyes, a silent plea for his bite. She wanted him, needed him more than anything she'd ever wanted or needed in her life.

The demon's teeth sank into the indigo blue vein just barely visible beneath the white ice of her skin. Rich, potent blood flooded into his mouth, a small drop of it trickling past his lips to slip down the slope of her breasts and soak her loose, white shirt. Her eyes went wide as he fed on her, her breathing hitching in her throat as she tried to control the pleasure he was giving her. She could hear him sucking her blood, feel as the life was slowly drained from her body, but it didn't hurt at all. It was beyond exquisite, delicious, wondrous.

When he pulled out, she wanted to cry. Instead, Lillitha's gentle hands slid up his muscular bare back until they curved around his broad, muscular shoulders, her long, emerald nails pricking his skin.

Leviathan's hungry mouth nipped and nibbled and kissed its way to Lillitha's twin globes of firm, ivory flesh. Lush, wet lips parted in an exquisite sigh, and obsidian eyes drifted shut with a fluttering of sparkling, black-lace lashes as smooth, warm lips closed around a taut nipple. His moist tongue slithered around the hardened nub, and glittering obsidian eyes blazed with heat and rolled back in ecstasy. He knew exactly how she was feeling.

Why was he reacting this way to her? How did she manage to call forth such tender feelings from him? Why was he touching the daughter of his master with such gentleness and exquisite care, as though she was fragile and precious as porcelain? Without really knowing why he did it, he lowered Lillitha down delicately to the bed, like she was the greatest treasure in the world.

Soft, breathy butterfly kisses winged their way up and down her stomach and smooth thighs. Her lovely hips lifted up, her body impatient for relief even as her hands gently fisted in Leviathan's shoulder-length, jet black hair. The hand not supporting his weight above her traveled slowly down the length of one long, lean, pale leg before sliding its way back up the sensitive inner thigh, spreading her legs wide, leaving her open and vulnerable before him. His bright white teeth gently nipped the inside of one knee as she sighed with pleasure. Leviathan breathed in deeply, inhaling the warm, musky scent of their arousal before lowering his head to nuzzle the soft, silken curls at the apex of her thighs.

Leviathan felt his chest grow almost painfully tight as Lillitha gasped his name, then whispered, "Levi, Levi..." The Lord of the Labyrinth was making love to his Master's daughter, bringing her over the edge with nothing but his mouth…drinking from her as if drinking the sweetness of liquid ambrosia. Their hands caressed every inch of skin within reach, as if the two of them couldn't get enough.

Insistent hands raised Lillitha's head, darkened by her body's heated flush and her jet black hair tumbling about her, brought her up for a long, lingering, searing kiss. His mouth still devouring hers like a savage beast, Leviathan impaled her, shoving his hot, throbbing organ into the slick, wet heat of the luscious demoness beneath him. He pulled her hands from his hair and entwined their fingers as he lowered their hands to either side of her head on the smooth, black satin pillow. Her long, slender, alabaster legs wrapped around his narrow hips that had yet to start pumping within her.

They touched noses, Leviathan nuzzling hers with his own as they inhaled each other's breath, each other's very souls. Dark emerald eyes locked with eyes the color of the abyss as Leviathan started a slow, gentle motion. They tightened in their grip as they made love slowly, sensually.

Leviathan had never ever experienced such a caring, tender act of total love. The times he remembered fucking had seemed more for physical release than this beautiful merging of bodies, hearts and…souls.

Wait. She had a soul?

Oh, damn.

The pace stayed agonizingly slow, only the force of the thrusts changing slightly. They gasped as every savage and dominating thrust gave them a harsher stab of pleasure. Leviathan dropped his head into the hollow of his lover's shoulder as her slender legs tightened around him. His eyes squeezed shut, hers went wide. The demon lord let out a low, sated groan and his beautiful lady gasped in surprise and wonder as they found their climax.

Levi struggled with the feeling of panic rising in his chest as Lillitha drifted gently off to sleep in his arms and he thought of what he'd realized. The princess had a soul. She could feel love. What was he going to do?

Tying the laces of her loose, white shirt (when had he untied them?), he caressed her face and left her, racing to get back to the Labyrinth, where the blessed order of it would help it to think.

He'd fucked the Princess of Blades.

He'd fucked someone with a soul.

He was in love with the Princess.

He was screwed.

_**Please feel free to leave a comment!**_

_**Anything at all. I am really interested in what my readers think about my writing.**_

_**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**_


	4. Chapter 1 Return of the Princess

**Chapter One**

**The Return of the Crown Princess**

"Harder, Prince! Oh, yes, harder! I know you want to!" Xipe Totec surged into the Princess's soft, beautiful body, his desire growing as her hot, tight, wet body clenched around his, taking him deeper inside her.

"Mine, all mine, Raze, yes! You're all mine, now!" His audacity at calling her by not just her given name, but her nickname, and making such demands of her, would have amazed him, but for some reason, he paid it no mind. All he could think about was the feel of her body, the taste of her skin beneath his tongue, the softness of her lips beneath his. He was drowning in the sweetness of their desire.

"I'm coming, Prince. I'm coming!"

"Yes, my Lady, my love! Come for me!"

"Prince! Oh, Prince!"

"By the sweet fires of Hell..." She screamed his true name, throwing her head back, her body as taut as a servicing garrote wire. The burning cold seed of a demon prince filled her as release found them both.

"Razielle!"

**_00800800800800800_**

The volume of his orgasmic shout woke him from the strange slumber that he sometimes entered when he was tired and thinking of the Princess. He awoke, his entire body limp and flaccid, soaked in sweat and blood. He sat up in his huge, empty bed, disappointed not to find the crown Princess at his side. He dreamed of her so very often, and missed her, longed for her with every part of his demonic self, but she was always out of his reach. Why had she never called for him? Had she not seen his final message? Had she perhaps been too angry to see it? Would she ever speak to him again, or so much as let him grovel at her feet? Per haps untie her bootlaces with his teeth or lick her shoes? Such menial tasks were beneath him, but if that were going to be all she would allow him, he would jump at the chance and gladly.

"I miss you, my lady. Come back to me. The Throne of Abarat awaits your return, and so do I. Please, please," he whispered, "come back to me."

**_00800800800800800_**

Razielle awoke with a shriek of pleasure, which became a moan of pain as she landed on the floor by her bunk bed with a solid thump. Again she'd dreamed of her Prince, the demon that the priests told her didn't exist, never had, and certainly wouldn't be the eternally damned lover of such a "charming, young girl."

Both she and her sister, Lillitha, were considered crazy, called Devil-worshippers by the kids at their mortal high school. She knew she wasn't crazy, though. She had the Dark Mirror of Hekate's Eye, her favorite voodoo doll, and the promise of a demon prince to prove she wasn't insane.

But, as she grew older, she began to wonder if her memories were merely figments of her imagination, and whether she and her sister might not truly be clinically insane. That was why she'd never taken the Prince up on his offer, to call him if she was ever in need. She couldn't have borne it if he wasn't real. Not her Prince.

"The Gates are open, Sister," Lily whispered, staring at the huge mirror that took up one wall of their house. Instead of reflecting the room, in its depths were darkness, and orange flames licking their way up the glass.

"But we haven't graduated yet!"

"It doesn't matter, we get to go home now! Unless someone's in trouble, and we gotta he- what's that?" Raze followed her sister's gaze and shrieked in surprise and delight. It was her Prince! Xipe Totec, Elliot Spencer, the Dark Pontiff of Hell, the High Minister of the Order of the Gash, the Flayed One, the Prince of Pain!

"I think you get to go. I'll catch up, all right? Go on, I know you wanna see him. Beat it, Raze!" She stared at the Princess of Blades for a moment before dashing through the Gate that led to her Prince.

**_00800800800800800_**

"Hello, Prince." The woman whispered, smiling at the expression of shock on the Prince of Pain's face. She stepped closer, her stiletto-heeled, black, leather boots clicking on the polished wood floor.

"You," Pinhead whispered in shock. She laughed at his amazement, running a hand languidly, seductively through her thick, mahogany ringlets, her full, dark red lips quirking into a smile.

The demon drank her in with his eyes. She had long, incredibly thick, curly brown hair, and brilliant green eyes shot with golden brown. She was tall, although part of it was the high-heeled, thigh-high, black boots. She wore a ragged, black silk mini skirt and a loose, drapey black shirt with bell sleeves and a ballet neck. Her skin was milk white against the dark material. Her long talons were painted a red so dark it was black, as were her lips. Her eyelids were painted a glittering, electric violet.

"Surprised to see me here?" She gestured with her hands to the chains hanging from the ceiling, the walls splashed with blood and the floors littered with scraps of bloodied flash. They were in some serious Hell.

"Yes," he said.

"Ah, but Prince, where else would I be, but the deepest, darkest Hell, the realm of my most unholy Father?" Brushing her curtain of silken mahogany curls out of her hazel green eyes, she strode forward to stand toe to toe with Pinhead. She was so close, the flats of his pins brushed against her full lips as she spoke to him.

"Did you miss me, Prince? It's been such a long time since we've seen each other, hasn't it?" She put her hands on the tops of his shoulders, gently caressing the glistening black leather that separated their flesh. Pinhead couldn't remember a time when the woman's flesh had burned so hot against him. The hellfire that was her soul burned deep within her, hot and dark.

"Speak, Prince. Say my name, at least, or have you forgotten it? You haven't, have you? It's only been five years."

"Yes," he whispered, "a long time, indeed, Princess." His hands closed over her slender, delicate wrists, but the fishhooks that glinted at his fingertips did not pierce her pale flesh. Unlike the Cenobites, the Princess did not like pain. She was so different from most demons, so much more human. This was the most unearthly, the most... nightmarishly demonic that he'd ever seen her. Yet she was calm, calm as the aftermath of a storm blown straight from the black oceans of Hell.

"Say my name, Prince. Remember me. Remember what it was like with me."

"Razielle." As soon as her name was out of his mouth, she reverted back to the grinning, witty daughter of the Dark Prince, a demon who was almost too human to be devil spawn. She smiled at her cousin Levi's second-in-command, and skipped backwards, waving and calling, "See ya later, Pinhead!"

"Wait!" She obeyed, looking at him over her shoulder. Her siblings would've been shocked. "Where are you going, Princess?"

"Dress shopping, at the Mall on Earth. Wanna come with?"

"I-" But she didn't wait for his answer. She just darted back, grabbed his hand, and willed them both elsewhere.

**_00800800800800800_**

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Kirsty Cotton leapt to her feet and stumbled away from Razielle and Pinhead, trying to put some space- and some furniture- between them. "What did you bring him for, huh?"

Raze blinked, so shocked that she didn't notice Pinhead step forward with a soft, chilling smile on his face. The demon princess kept her eyes on her human friend, who looked about ready to piss herself.

"Kirsty, what? What is it? Why are you so upset?" She took a step towards her friend, almost in tears. She liked the Prince. Why didn't Kirsty? It's not like she'd ever been on the receiving end of his not-so-tender ministrations. And yeah, he looked rather... well, he looked like he was dead, but so did Kirsty when she'd just stumbled out of bed at five thirty in the frickin' morning. So why was she so upset?

"Ah, Kirsty. We meet again for, what, the fifth time, now? Four times you've escaped me, but no longer." Raze squeaked and whirled to face the Dark Pontiff of Hell. Oh, damn. Kirsty had opened the Box. She'd solved the Lament Configuration, and escaped the Prince not once, not twice or even thrice, but four times.

How the Hell had she managed to do that?

Oh, well, one issue at a time. The current one being, the Prince wanted to cart off one of her best friends to Hell to torture her for eternity. She knew he would, too, she could see the hungry gleam of anticipation in his obsidian eyes.

"Oh, no, you don't, Prince. Leave Kirsty alone. She's my friend, and she has my Protection. Understand?" The soft clinking of swinging chains made Kirsty start violently in terror, but she kept her gaze riveted on Razielle. The tall, dark-haired Princess stared into Pinhead's emotionless black eyes without blinking, her face regal, not stern and not pleading, but commanding. Her eyes flashed with emerald fire.

Pinhead felt a twinge near the region of his heart as she regarded him with a cool stare. His large, cold, white hand came up to circle her slender throat as he tried to exert his dominance over her. Her eyes narrowed as she continued to watch him.

"This one opened the Box," he said as a voice whispered, whip harsh, inside his mind, "On your knees, beast. Or I shall bring you to them by force."

"She has opened it twice."

"Yet you come after her now, even though she has escaped your grasp four times." In the demon's head, Razielle whispered, "I will not tolerate disobedience, mangy cur. Leave off the girl and get down on your knees."

"No! She must pay for it. Her soul... belongs... to me... now." His voice grew soft and trailed away into nothing as his glittering, obsidian eyes grew wide, twin chasms of hell and despair as Raze's power fell upon him like a ravenous lover.

"We had a deal, you bastard!" Kirsty's voice was shrill and sharp with panic and fright, penetrating, but the spell was not broken. Pinhead opened his mouth to speak, to silence the human woman, but Raze's hand flew up to cover his pale lips, a gentle command that he would keep silent for now.

"We had a deal, we did, we-" Kirsty began sobbing with fear.

"Kirsty, that is enough. You have my Protection, and thus you bear my Mark. No denizen of Hell may harm you. That includes you, Prince! Leave Kirsty Cotton alone. You don't need her soul." Pinhead frowned, his grip on Razielle's throat spasming as replied, "But, Princess, she opened the Box, opened the Gates of Hell. Her soul should be mine! It belongs to-"

"It belongs to her. You don't need it. Besides, what d'you want it for, anyway? It's probably all pure and innocent and some junk, and besides, you've got my soul. Er... yeah, my soul... thing... and the souls of the Damned. You don't need her soul. And so, good Capulet, be satisfied. Please? We got dresses to try on and junk." In his head, the Princess hissed, "And I want you on your knees at my mercy at the earliest convenience, Prince. You need to learn obedience."

"The eldest daughter of the High Lord of Hell reads Shakespeare?" Tiffany asked, blinking rapidly. She hadn't moved once Kirsty started freaking out.

"Indeed," Pinhead muttered, and his hand came away from the girl's neck.

"Yep. I like black cherry ice cream, too, as the Prince well knows."

"I am yours to command, Princess. You mentioned dresses."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot."

"Wait. You brought him along to help you pick out a dress? That is so disturbing, just to let you know." Kirsty looked a bit grayish.

"Well, he's my escort for the Welcome Back to Hades Dance, so I'm gonna pick out a dress I can wear to both that and Tiff's prom that matches...well... that." Raze indicated Pinhead's long robe of black leather.

"Welcome back to Hades dance?" Kirsty asked, looking at Pinhead. The demon said calmly, "The Crown Princess and the Princess of Blades have been gone from the Realms of the Damned for five years. A grand ball such as the one being planned is appropriate to welcome them back to Hell once again."

"I hate balls," Raze muttered, rifling through dresses on a rack.

"Don't tell falsehoods, Princess," Pinhead replied carelessly, walking over to stand by her side.

"No one says 'falsehoods' anymore, Prince. Your aeons are showing." He chuckled at her wry expression while his flinty, soulless eyes scanned the gowns of frothy, pastel colors and the atrocious, eye-watering gowns of neon greens and pinks and blues. Black would serve the Princess, or red, maybe a dark, rich green or a deep, shimmering sapphire, but certainly none of these. Some of them were white, which would become her, but she surely wouldn't pick those. White wasn't exactly a proper color to wear to any type of social gathering in Hell.

But some of those dresses there... ah. He picked one off the rack and held it out to her, saying, "Here. Try on this." The dress was a deep scarlet-colored satin, the color like that of freshly spilt arterial blood, with long, trumpet sleeves, an empire waist, and a square neckline.

Raze blinked and gulped, whispering, "Ooh, pretty. But... maybe a little to sexy?" It was the Prince's turn to blink. Was there such a thing? Temptation brought souls into Hell. How could there be too much of that?

"It's fine, here, let me see." Kirsty took the dress and held it up to Raze's body, admiring it. Raze was a woman who only looked good in certain colors, and pastels just wouldn't bloody do it anymore, now that she wasn't a kid anymore. But something like this, this dark red gown, would be perfect for a ball. For the prom... she wasn't sure. It wasn't too sexy- yeah, right- just a little too formal.

After staring at it against Raze's body for several minutes, Kirsty looked at Tiffany, and they both shook their heads. Tiffany said, "Too pretty. You're trying to pass for a normal teen, remember? No shallow, slutty teenager would wear something that tasteful, or that nice."

"But I wanna look nice."

"And therein lies a problem. Most prom dresses don't look that good, in my opinion. Especially not for you. Most prom dresses are halters, no sleeves, poofy skirts, too short skirts, plunging necklines, pastels, white, pink, yellow, not royal, marine, or navy blue, and/or not in your size, which means you don't want anything to do with them. Oh, and why don't you wear blue again?"

"Blue means divine, holy, in some cultures. It would be sacrilegious. Same thing with wearing white. The only time we're allowed to wear white is when we visit Heaven, are trying to trick people, or- Daddy does this- when our feet are dripping with boiling tar. It shows how 'unclean' we are, whereas the white by itself doesn't. It's just a rule, one of those unbreakables. Just like, the Prince can't come to Earth unless someone other than a full-blooded demon opens the Gates of Hell."

"Oh. I didn't know that. Gee, learn something new every day around you, huh?"

"I'm a fountain of pertinent information, Kirsty."

"Obviously-"

"Ladies, we are on a time limit. I believe you have a... final... to study for, Princess, correct?"

"Bite me, Prince. Ooh, what d'ya got there?" He handed her one of nine dresses, a slinky little hunter green number that made her eyes look gorgeous. She held it against herself, then glanced at the other dresses. Three black, two red, one more green, one a shimmering silver, and one a deep, royal blue. She wanted 'em all. Good thing she was the daughter of the devil, and thus very rich.

"Well?" Kirsty asked. Raze locked eyes with Kirsty and said, "Buy 'em."

"Wait, aren't we missing somebody?" Tiffany murmured. Razielle blinked and asked, "Where are you? Tiff, why can't I see you?"

"I'm wrestling with your sister! Help me!" Some colorful, foreign curses flew through the air. "Get out there, Lillitha Morae laDiabla."

"Don't call me by my full name, Tiffany!"

"Lil, get the fuck out here!" Raze yelled. "You need to buy a dress for the Prom! Cross dressing is against the rules, remember?"

"I don't give a flying rat's ass!" Lily yelled from her place behind three racks of dresses. "I'm not wearing a goddamned dress! D'you hear me, Raze?"

"Prince," Raze murmured, rubbing the bridge of her nose. The demon Prince immediately placed his hand on the back of her neck, halting the knot of muscle that was starting to build by rubbing the tense muscles. "Prince, could you be a darling and get her to come out?"

"At once, Princess." He inclined his head, about as much deference as he showed anyone in public, and strode off in the direction of Tiffany and Lily. The blond mortal scuttled out from the spot as Pinhead turned the corner and vanished from Razielle's sight. A few bangs ensued, followed by a shriek and a booming voice crying, "**YOU WILL DO THIS FOR THE PRINCESS**!" Then came such a thick, choking silence that Kirsty and Tiffany began to sweat.

Lily, her black hair hanging in a vulpine ponytail, her dark eyes flashing, daring anyone to comment, marched out in front of the leader of the Cenobites, fists clenched. She stopped in front of her sister and said, "You know my size and my preference. Pick one and let's just get the hell out of this niche of Purgatory!"

**_00800800800800800_**

"Time to go, Lil! Come on, it won't be so bad! We got nifty dresses and everything," Raze murmured cajolingly. Her sister glared at her.

"Nothing you can say will get me to move."

"You look like you're dead and walking, ready to ravage the earth." Lily perked up and slipped off her bunk bed, murmuring, "Okay, I lied, I'm ready, let's go."

The two girls met Kirsty and Tiffany, who felt rather honored that three Seniors- two high school, one college- would ask a lowly Freshman to the Prom with them. The four of them began to walk, oblivious to the many eyes, demonic and monstrous, angelic and hateful, that watched them go.

**_00800800800800800_**

The four high school boys were laughing and joking, oblivious to the being that stalked them. It had no hands, only strange, rotting pinchers like a decaying crab, and rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. Vaguely humanoid in shape, it was tall enough to brush the tops of doorways when it entered, uninvited, into homes to slaughter humans.

Its masters walked behind it, their eyes locked on the boys as the creature leapt at them and brought all four of them down in fountains of gushing crimson blood and agonized screams.

"The Princesses won't be happy to lose their dates."

"The spawn of Satan are a disgrace to the Dark Forces everywhere. They, along with those who are theirs, must suffer and die. We care not what makes them unhappy. They all must die."

"Even the Champions of the Dark?"

"Especially the Champions. The Champion of the Crown of Suffering is in love with the Princess of Eternal Night. Such is not allowed, yet he flaunts his pitiful love shamelessly, and is not brought to heel by his masters."

"The Lord of the Labyrinth and His Lady must also suffer and die."

"Must We destroy them all?" Asked one of the Masters, then realized what It had said. Such words were blasphemy, punishable by death. As one, the Others turned to the lone Master and snuffed It out of existence.

"They cannot be allowed to stop Us. We will one day rule the Realms. One day soon, in fact."

"Death to the Princesses," said the first one.

"Death to the Princesses," chorused the others. The Leader hissed and said, "Death to the God of Hell, and the God of Heaven. Death to Their Princesses, and the Princesses' Champions. Death to their Peoples. Death to all who stand in the way of the Sinn. Death to Life everywhere."

**_00800800800800800_**

_**Please feel free to leave a comment!**_

_**Anything at all. I am really interested in what my readers think about my writing.**_

_**Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**_


	5. Chapter 2 Dancing and Chanting

For the original version of the song featured in this chapter (the version I'm listening to is a remix, but I can't find it online) listen to this: http / www . youtube . com / watch ?v GfkO3vUxKY

**Chapter Two**

**Dancing and Chanting**

"Well, this is just bloody bonny!" Raze muttered, looking around the room, totally uninterested. So many of her "peers" were on the dance floor, gyrating and having fun, but she, her sister, and her friends had been stood up, and they didn't feel like having fun right then. Tiffany felt like crying, a fact that made Raze and Lily feel even more inclined to kill someone.

"Hey, where are your evil, Satanic followers, devil bitch?" One of the other kids from their school cried, laughing. "Guess you're all alone, now, huh?"

Lily slipped one hand into her bag, where her knife eagerly awaited bloodshed, but Kirsty clasped her wrist and shook her head. Raze smiled prettily at the boy and murmured, "I'll see you in Hell, silly mortal, and when I do, I'll eat your eyes and tongue, and cut off your ears, and make you a page of the Infernal Encyclopedia."

When she smiled as sweetly as a cherry sundae, the boy paled and stumbled back away from her.

"Good night to you, then."

The boy, eyes wide and more than a little freaked out- and turned on- by the demon princess's threat, scrambled off as Kirsty asked, "What's the Infernal Encyclopedia?"

Razielle didn't know why, but she felt as if there was someone in the room watching her. She didn't recognize any of the faces in the milling crowd, but that didn't matter- her shoulder blades itched, and her ears were burning. Someone was talking about her, and someone was watching her.

She sneezed.

"Bless you," Kirsty murmured.

She sneezed again.

"Dang," Lili said.

She sneezed a third time.

"Someone's thinking about you," Tiffany jumped in, smiling a little for the first time all night. Razielle smiled at the girl in her royal blue halter dress- she looked so pretty! Kirsty had excellent taste- and laughed a little. "No, really," the younger girl added. "That's what it means when you sneeze three times in a row- someone's thinking about you."

"I never heard that. Interesting. What was your question, Kirsty?"

"What's the Infernal Encyclopedia?" The older woman said slowly, as if speaking to someone with less than half a frontal lobe.

"Encyclopediae Infernum. It's one of the Books of Hell. The pages are made up of humans, who are tattooed with the information, then blinded, deafened, and forever silenced. We throw them in a pit, and leave them there. Generally, the men get bored and start a massive rape-orgy every few days, but sex among sinners in Hell is a bad idea."

"Why?" Tiffany asked, sickeningly fascinated.

"In Hell, sinners gain certain characteristics of demons. Some demons, if you have sex with them, the pain is like giving birth to a child. Now, you ladies have never done that, but lemme tell ya, it's not fun. It can kill you, actually, which is why demons have stopped raping most of their women in back alleys."

"Huh?"

"Demons generally have sex to breed half demons. It's... it's complicated. But, if someone is slowly bleeding to death in an alley, they might not live, whereas, if someone was slowly bleeding to death in their home, they can call 911."

"And you let them do this?" Kirsty demanded. She had known Razielle was a demon, and Lili too, but at times they just seemed so human, it was almost incomprehensible to her that these two girls she loved like sisters could be capable of the cruelty she had seen from Pinhead and the other Cenobites.

Raze sighed, looking a little miffed. She murmured, her voice full of self-deprecation, "_**I**_ can't stop them. I'm only the Crown Princess, and I'm only the Crown Princess of Abarat and Ynfyrnish. **_I_** don't make the rules."

"I don't either," Lili put in. "I'm nothing, politically. A Princess- whoop-de-doo. There's like, two hundred of us roaming Hell's back alleys."

"You have two hundred sisters?" Tiffany whispered in shock. Around them, the teens of Dunwich High School continued to gyrate and shiver. "Do you all have the same mother?"

"We're not all related. There's like, more than ten princesses for every province of Hell. Well, almost every province. There are only three princesses in Abarat, but one of them is human. Not the point. The point is, that I can't stop demons from raping women, even if I wanted to. Besides, the other Devils aren't as nice as our Father is. They don't care if mortals don't like something, and on the grand scale of Hell's politics, you guys don't rate that high, which means most of the ruling Devils don't care about you at all. You could all drop dead and only my father and my family would give a damn.

"But the only reason my family would give a damn is because we're in charge of Earth, too. But I'm not the heir to that, either, and no one respects Nicky, my brother- the one in the family who **_is_** in charge of dealing with the balance on Earth- to do what he says he will- he's been a pussy most of his life- since all he ever managed to do was kick my brothers' butts a few years ago and stop Hell on Earth. No one respects that anymore."

Both mortal girls blinked and exchanged a glance.

"Oh, wow. Politics in Hell. That... makes sense. In a confusing, senseless kind of way," Kirsty murmured. "Where does Pinhead come in?"

"He's the leader of my cousin's demon army. He's Prince of the Labyrinth, which is a small piece of my family's section of Hell, so I guess he's like a Duke or an Earl or something. He's also my marriage contract negotiator with my Father."

At this point, feeling a slight raspiness in her throat, Raze popped open her purse and pulled out a bottle full of something dark and redder than wine.

"Is that blood?" Kirsty asked.

"No, it's dark nectar," Raze replied. The person who had been watching her- was _still_ watching her from the shadows- saw that she had a glittering, ruby droplet on her full bottom lip for a moment before she licked it away with the tip of her slightly forked tongue. He shuddered, longing to go after her here, now, right that moment. Oblivious to her silent watcher now that she was in the middle of a conversation, Razielle went on, "Why would it be blood? Blood only tastes good in the middle of sex."

"Ew."

"Yeah, I know, the truth is gross to some people. Sorry. You know, it's nearly midnight, and this whole night's been wasted. I'll be right back- I need to piss."

Being a demon, she really didn't, but it didn't matter. She needed to be alone.

The other three girls nodded and went back to talking, while Raze rushed off to hide in a secluded corner and think about things for a few minutes. She was depressed, which surprised her even as it depressed her even more. She'd really thought those boys would pull through for her and her friends, and they hadn't even shown up to Prom. Oh, she was gonna pull their souls through the Fiery Gates when they died, no question! And now she was stuck at Prom- when she had a ball she didn't want to attend looming up in her future- and she couldn't even dance with the person she wanted to be with most right then, because she was incognito in the mortal world and he could only come to the human world if he was summoned.

_It is not hands that call us. It is **desire...**_

Where had that come from? Where had she heard that before? It sounded familiar. It also made her heart feel like tiny shoots of black lightning were zinging through her chest, which was more uncomfortable than she would have anticipated.

"What's a beautiful woman like you doing here alone?" A voice murmured. Looking up, Razielle saw a young man with long, black hair tied in a ponytail, and brilliant, obsidian eyes. His flesh was very white, like hers, but not as white as Xipe Totec's or Agribor's. He wore a black tuxedo with a crimson bow-tie and vest. In his hand, which sported a white glove, he held a single red rose.

"Hi... do... I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked. Something in his face, in his tender expression and the heat behind his eyes, burned her with recognition. Flames burned inside her- there was something truly diabolical about this boy standing before her. But not in a bad way- her darkness was catching fire, roaring up to be met by a fire burning equally bright in this boy. His black glass eyes melted to liquid darkness, and his lips curved into a smile that warmed her down to her toes, and snarled at the depression inside her until it beat a hasty retreat.

"You might."

"Might what?" She asked softly. She couldn't remember what she'd asked him.

"Might know me. You do kind of look familiar. I'm Elliot. And you are?"

"Razielle."

"Well, Razielle, would you care to return to the dancing with me, for the final slow dance?" She hesitated, then wondered why. Was she truly so bothered by the strange air of familiarity about this boy? And it would be a social faux pax she couldn't afford if he happened to be the son of the one of higher ranking Devils and she just didn't know it and she refused him a dance.

"I would love to dance with you." It wasn't a lie- since demons were forbidden to tell outright lies. It wasn't even stretching the truth, she realized with surprise. Everything in her yearned suddenly for this dance.

He pulled her away from where she sat in the shadows, out onto the dance floor all a-swirl with small pinpoints of hot pink, bright blue, and green light. As the song came on over the speakers, Elliot spun her around once before settling her in his arms.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her sister dancing with a man in a white tuxedo with a long, jet-black ponytail. She was smiling, her dark eyes glistening with happiness. That was a first- when had Lili ever enjoyed dancing with anyone at a dance? The only person she ever danced with back at home was Leviathan, when he was kind enough to take human form. Wait... what did Levi's human form look like, anyway? She couldn't remember, it had been so long since she, Razielle, had seen him. Could that be... but no, it couldn't be. Like Pinhead and the Cenobites, Leviathan was bound by the laws of Hell, and couldn't come to the mortal realms unless summoned.

_It is not hands that call us. It is **desire**_...

There was that niggling little thought in the back of her mind again, the wisp of a memory, the whisper of a phantom voice. She couldn't for the life of her remember where she had heard anyone say that before, or if she'd read it, or what. Urgh! It was driving her mad.

Trying to ignore the questions revolving in her brain, the princess saw out of the corner of her eye that Tiffany and Kirsty had also found people to dance with. Disgustingly, Kirsty was dancing with Mr. Broadland, Raze's calculus teacher.

_Ew._

The music pulsed from the tall black speakers and Razielle allowed Elliot to lead her in a dance that was so familiar she fell into it without conscious thought.

_"Watching backwards as life like pictures_

_Stinging thoughts, born with phantoms_

_We danced above a world forgotten_

_Moments cherished...even now..."_

She stared up into the eyes of the boy- no, the _man-_ that she was dancing with, and felt a strange feeling well up inside of her. This was more than familiar. There was something ancient about this, as if she had danced this dance with this man and this man only since the dawn of time, and would always dance this dance with him until the world fell away into Armageddon, Apocalypse, and entropic nothingness. Her entire body thrummed with energy, with recognition, with purpose and joy.

Razielle had only felt this way once, just once, when she'd been in the arms of Xipe Totec, the Prince of Pain, the Angel of Suffering. He had held her, loved her in the only way he knew how, giving her pleasure, pulling her into exhausted sleep at the end of the night... and now she was shivering with remembered ecstasy and happiness in the arms of a man she couldn't quite remember where she'd met... was this magic? Was he enchanting her? Putting a spell on her to make her fall for him?

No, she decided, when she looked into his brilliant eyes like tenebrous stars. No, there was something else going on here. No magic, something more.

Raze was starting to feel a sharp pain behind her eyes, but the way Elliot's hand cupped her waist, burning her like hellfire through the material of her dress, the way his eyes bored into hers, the way his fingers tightened around the hand he held so that his thumb was caressing the soft, slim index finger of her right hand, was enough to help her successfully ignore the beginnings of her headache.

_"A train-wrecked heart loves fairy tales_

_Singing from a gaping wound_

_However time has left unsettled_

_My memories play out of tune..."_

"I can't figure out just who you are, why I feel like I know you," Razielle whispered. "There's just... an elusive something... like-"

"Quicksilver, hellfire, the light of God. Is that so... _Princess_?"

She gasped. The way he said the word "princess," as if it were the highest pleasure he could ever receive, being able to call her by her title... only one person spoke to her that way. Only one... but he couldn't be here. Was this some kind of trick? A trap?

_It is not hands that call us. It is **desire...**_

Wait... now she remembered. She remembered where she'd heard that phrase. She'd heard it from Tiffany, when Tiffany had told her long ago about her first encounter with the Cenobites. How Agribor, the Chatterer, and Butterball were approaching her, weapons at the ready to inflict agonizing pleasure and orgasmic pain, when Pinhead had ordered them to stop. When Agribor had questioned him, Xipe Totec had said, "It is not hands that call us. It is desire."

_"You can't unmake a cold mistake_

_You can't undo the hearts you break_

_You can't erase the poet's fate_

_Not even if you try..."_

She stared up into his eyes, unable to believe her own. Could it be? Had her desire to see him been so strong that she had conjured him from the depths of Hell? And if that were true, did that mean that the man dancing with her sister was their cousin, the demon-king Lili loved, Lord Leviathan of the Labyrinth? Or was it a trap?

How many times had she asked herself that question? But it very well could be. There were many- exorcists, priests, the Pope, other demons, demon-kings, Devils, rebel angels, and even incredibly stupid humans that would, if they knew who she was, try to kill her.

Confused, hating the fact that being millennia old, being a princess, and being a demon didn't help her deal with teenage horomones, she wondered what she was supposed to do?

_"And she had Audrey Hepburn's smile_

_With deeper sadder eyes_

_The only thing she said_

_No one hears Cassandra cry_

_Because the earth is standing still_

_And the truth becomes a lie_

_A choice profound is bittersweet_

_No one hears Cassandra cry..."_

"Why do you call me Princess?" She demanded. If this was a trap, she might as well hit it head on and start a massive slaughter while she was at it. If this was a trick, it would be the final straw that broke the camel's back and ruined her Prom, and people would die for it. "How do you know me?"

"I know you," the man whispered roughly, voice thick with longing. His eyes bit like jagged, iron teeth into the sweet flesh of her mind. "If I were blind I would still be able to smell the exquisite, intoxicating stench of what you really are, my princess. My Razielle."

Shocked, unable to truly believe it, believe that her power had pulled him to her when she'd been so desperate for him after dealing with foolish and heartbreaking mortals for hours, she stared up at him in wonder and breathed, "Prince?"

_"A heartfelt sorrow I believe_

_Offered this for passion's crime_

_A crippled satellite trapped in orbit_

_My memories play out of time_

_You can't unmake a cold mistake_

_You can't undo the hearts you break_

_You can't erase the poet's fate_

_Not even if you try..."_

"Yes, my princess. I am here," he whispered in her ear. The entire world could have been going up in flames around them, and she never would have noticed anything, so transported and enraptured was she when, for the first time since he had approached her, the Dark Pontiff of Hell allowed the demonic brimstone and thunder of his true voice to rumble in his chest and smolder in his throat.

She let her head fall against his chest, sighing in contentment. When was the last time they had danced together? Four years ago? Five? Time passed differently for her in the mortal realm than it ever had in Hell. She had missed the sinful, wicked, yet tantalizingly innocent and tender intimacy of dancing with the Cenobite lord whom she loved with all the dark fire in her soul.

She could feel his lips curving into a smile against the styled, curling ringlets of her dark hair piled on top of her head. She could feel his hand tighten possessively at her waist.

"I have not known your touch for so long, my princess."

"You have denied me yours, Prince," she whispered, and pulled her head back to look up at him, head cocked to the side. She wondered if he knew just what she was thinking. She also wondered, briefly, if he had any notion as to whether it was the swimming lights from the light ball hanging from the ceiling that was inflicting the irritating pain flashing above her right eyebrow and lancing behind her eyes.

_"And she had Audrey Hepburn's smile_

_With deeper sadder eyes_

_The only thing she said_

_No one hears Cassandra cry_

_Because the earth is standing still_

_And the truth becomes a lie_

_A choice profound is bittersweet_

_No one hears Cassandra cry."_

Elliot Spencer, the leader of the Cenobites, tilted his head toward hers, his lips only scant centimeters from hers, when her ears suddenly filled with a soaring, snarling, gnashing chant:

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh ****Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn **

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn **

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

Someone, somewhere, was shrieking in pain. Razielle didn't know who- it was a long way off, in the darkness that had fallen over her the minute the chanting had begun- but they were screaming the words, "Ia! Ia! Shub-Niggurath! Father! Father! It's him! It's him, he's awake! Prince! Lillitha! He's awake! Run! Run away! He'll strip the flesh from your bones! Go, run! Father!"

Somewhere else, she could still hear the music...

_The listless price of my dissension _

_Where emptiness has pulled me down _

And against her will she was being drowned in the shrieking, clanging, vicious, slimy sounds of the infernal chanting cutting at the inside of her mind.

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn **

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn **

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn **

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn **

"Make it stop!" Who was screaming like that? "Stop it! Leave me alone! Prince, help me! Nug! Yeb! Yog... Yog... Prince... help me..."

_Cascading from my divagation _

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

_Below the frozen winter skies_

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu**

Someone was holding her tightly to their chest, and she could hear a sluggish heart making its watery thud against the cage of that person's sternum. Something like the pricking of kitten claws pierced her arms, and she remembered vaguely the feel of fish hooks in her skin, gentle and poisonous caresses from the spine-tipped fingertips of the one person who would never hurt her...

"Prince!" She thrashed, trying to bring her hands up to cover her ears. The entire time that the music whispered in the background, that insidious and awful chanting raged and pounded and pulsed in her head, like the tidal pull of blood. It sucked at her consciousness, pulled at her heart and her soul. She recognized that pull- it was the feeling of pain and love and belonging that her father had warned her about. It was the thing that her father had said would poison her, turn her into not just a demon, but a monster, if she gave into it.

Where was Lili? Did she feel the call?

**R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

_Pythonic sadness unreleased _

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

She could feel viciousness pulling at her beneath the skin, her flesh stretching to accomodate pieces of her she never wanted her body to create. She was giving in to the call of the Elder Gods, she could feel it, the ropy slimy masses inside her struggling to burst through the skin, ripping it open and turning her into a hideous monster...

She didn't want to become what her mother was! What her mother's other children were! She just wanted to be herself! She wanted to be Razielle Nyx of Abarat, Heir to the Infernal Crown! Princess of Abarat and her father's daughter!

_As serpents rigid in cold_

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

_Waiting for the warmth of Sunday _

_Before the cruelty of growing old_

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
****Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

_Growing old... _

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.**

She realized that she was half-way transformed into something she didn't even want to think about in the middle of the dance floor at her High School Prom, and she had to wonder if perhaps she was about to get shot for being such a weak-willed demon that her bloodline was poisoning her jealously guarded human-like form against her will.

And the chanting just went on and on... she knew one thing. If this was Cthulhu and the Elder Gods, then her father was going to strike them with such a blow, such a hammering blow of wrath and war and rage that those ancient creatures from outside of space and time and hell and heaven would shatter and scream in pain before disappearing on the infernal winds that seared the barren wastes of the blasted heathes of Hell.

"Father... Daddy... Prince... Lili..."

And the chanting resumed, ripping apart her defenses, and something alien and dark and empty slithered into the back of her head, wrapping around her brain, seeping into every crease and crevice in her brain, infecting her, possessing her...

"NO! NO! Prince, get him out of me! Prince!!"

_Are you listening? _

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.**

_Are you listening?_

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

_Are you listening now?_

Dark power washed over her, burning away the seeping cold slime that was wrapping around her spirit. But that slime fought back, raging at her, freezing her so that her bones ached and her teeth ached and her blood turned to ice in her veins. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but the scalding hot drops quickly froze and turned to drops of glittering diamond ice burning against her face.

"Prince, get him out of me!"

"I am trying, Razielle! Hold still!"

"It hurts!"

The chanting was a thunder, a pounding canon blast shattering her ear drums as she writhed and wept and screamed for someone to make it end. Her fingertips were splitting open, and slimy little tentacles were wiggling their way out of the tips of her fingers. Her muscles were in knots, and it felt as if her blood had thickened to icy oozing slime. Her bones crackled.

"Mother, help me! Make him stop! He's your brother! Make him stop! Mother!"

"Shub-Niggurath! Ia, ia, Shub-Niggurath! Help your daughter!"

"Mother!"

At once, there was a softening of the vicious sounds, as if a barrier of silk and gauze and gossamer had fallen around her. Her blood thinned, back to dark coolness and black fire and witch oil, and her fingertips sealed themselves up again.

_Why do you deny my blood in you?_

The voice was like a thousand screaming animals, but it wasn't caustic and brutal and agonizing, like the chanting of the Cthulhu cult. This was different- gentle almost. Shub-Niggurath, the Goat with a Thousand Young.

She, Razielle, had one other title- _elil-ma-shek-provinkek. _Literally, Thousand-Of-She-Princess. Princess of the Thousand. And her title, and the blood that brought it to her, did not betray her a second time.

****

Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh **

_Are you listening?_

**wgah'nagl fhtagn! Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl**

_Are you listening?_

**fhtagn  
****Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn**

_Are you listening now? _

_Like Orpheas with hope entangled _

_(Are you listening?) _

_Your path was mapped about your feet _

_(Are you listening?)_

**Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn  
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh waggish'**

_Leading backwards into forgiveness _

_(Are you listening now?)_

**angle fhtagn**

_Or forward to a fool's retreat?_

Suddenly, the pain rocketed upwards, filling her body, dragging at her heart and soul and spirit, clawing inside of her, so that she went rigid, as if her muscles would snap her own bones. Because the barrier her mother had put up around her disappeared with an abomination of a scream of agony from somewhere outside of reality, a scream of excrutiating pain from Shub-Niggurath, and then the chanting grew so loud and violent that all Razielle heard was the resounding syllables dragging her back into the shallow end of her twisted, stagnant gene pool.

**PH-NGLUI **

**MGLW'NAFH **

**CTHULHU **

**R'LYEH **

**WGAH'NAGL **

**FHTAGN!!**

As the chanting reached its horrifying crescendo, Razielle clutched her head as hot glass sliced through her brain, and she fell into Elliot's arms and screamed until blood ran from her mouth and blackness consumed her, dragging her down into merciful unconsciousness as she screamed, "Prince! Lili! Father! Mother!"

"Razielle!"


End file.
